24 September 2011

Azkals rout Kaya Cignal, ready for Long Teng Cup

By Alder Lamo

MANILA, Philippines – The Long Teng Cup-bound Philippine Azkals used a strong second half to dominate United Football League’s Kaya Cignal FC, 5-nil, Saturday at the end of the I Can Serve Foundation Football Invitationals before a sizable crowd at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

The Azkals gained much needed confidence and cohesion with their new lineup heading into the 4-nation Long Teng Cup which is scheduled on Sept. 30-Oct. 4 in Taiwan.

Mark Hartmann opened the scoring parade of the national squad in the second half via penalty kick in the 55th minute. The 19-year old Fil-British striker sailed his attempt above Kaya Cignal’s wall defense to score the stunning goal.

Fil-Spanish Angel Guirado, who just arrived from a brief vacation in Spain two days prior to the match, made the second goal with a crossover fake off his defender at the 67-minute mark of the match. Three minutes later, Chieffy Caligdong followed up a saved shot by Kaya Cignal’s goalie Saba Sadeghi to hike Azkals’ lead, 3-nil.

Phil Younghusband, who aggressively attacked Kaya Cignal’s defense all throughout the match, finally gained ground with two goals – a great feed from his brother James in the 82nd minute and the final goal four minutes later.

Fil-German goalie Roland Muller also made a good account of himself in his debut with the team, saving four attempts of Kaya Cignal as Sudanese striker and the UFL leading scorer Izzeldin El-Habbib was held scoreless.

“I am satisfied with our game especially in the second half. We struggled in the first half as I gave Angel [Guirado] some playing time, one day after coming back. Phil and James [Younghusband] played great especially James on defense,” Azkals coach Michael Wise said.

It was a fitting follow up to Azkals' opening 3-2 win against UFL Cup champion Global Smartmatic last Wednesday.

Mark Hartman should be our designated player to take free kicks. Twice ko sya nakita magscore ng ganon. Phil should step aside. I know Phil is still our highest scorer but he needs to learn to share/pass the ball to a more open teammate especially Mark Hartman who is equally talented striker. Don't force the issue Phil. You can be a better player if you learn to pass some more. Philippines will be much stronger if you do.